Be warned, this is probably going to be quite a long post. My apologies in advance. I’ll try to be as concise as I can. But seeing as I’m British, I have a lot of strong opinions on this subject- opinions which I’ve largely refrained from expressing until now. Next week the Modern Philosophy series will resume, but I’m sure this won’t be the last of my posts on British politics.
Last Thursday, the UK held elections for country councils across the country. The Conservatives made tremendous gains, particularly in previously-considered Labour heartlands such as the West Midlands metropolis and much of Scotland. Labour continued its steady decline- the party now controls only one rural county in England. The Liberal Democrats, who tried to appeal to Remain voters disillusioned by the Conservatives’ apparent preference for a ‘Hard Brexit’, won a healthy 18% of the popular vote. But given the nature of their support’s geographical distribution, this resulted in them actually losing seats. In England, the area where the Liberal vote increased the most was the South East; this surge in popularity was almost entirely fruitless given how popular the Conservatives are there. The only positive result was that the right-wing populist party, UKIP, was decimated, winning only one seat, having previously held 115.
However, even UKIP’s demise was a cause for concern. Nigel Farage, the party’s former leader, has repeatedly praised Theresa May for advocating policies he has long campaigned for: a considerable reduction in immigration, a more distanced and adversarial relationship with the EU, the repeal of the Human Rights Act, and a tough ‘law and order’ stance on crime. UKIP’s supported collapsed mainly because the Conservative Party had assimilated so many of its views into their own programme, thus rendering UKIP purposeless. A similar phenomenon happened in the most recent Israeli election, where Netanyahu’s Likud Party gained Knesset seats at the expense of the Orthodox and pro-West Bank settlement parties, because he combined their policies with the effectiveness of voting for a party big enough to lead any centre-right coalition. In the same way as supporters of the Jewish Home and Shas were told to ‘come home’ to Likud, UKIP voters were made to feel at home in May’s Conservative Party, which hopes to use the upcoming election to ditch the more liberal aspects of Cameron’s ideology and legacy.
The similarities with Israel continue in regard’s to Britain’s Left. Like in Israel, the British Left is hopelessly divided. The Labour Party, like most European social democratic parties, faces the prospect of long term decline due to forces beyond its control: the decline of traditional unionist industry and the working class, the rise of a middle class who mostly work in the non-unionised service sector, an ageing population ( older voters tend to prefer the centre-right because they are more socially conservative and resistant to rapid social and cultural change), an increasing immigrant population and accompanying probable native backlash, and the rise of a wealthy global elite who use their sheer economic clout to advocate for less generous social insurance programmes. Having said all that, the structural challenges Labour faces do not excuse it from performing as badly as they have. Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s leader, is unpopular with voters because of his uncompromisingly old-school brand of Leftism; he has advocated policies like bringing back coal mining and choosing not to kill terrorists if given a clear opportunity. The party is horribly divided between its socialist, soft-left and centrist wings, and does not try hard enough to minimise those divisions. There is very little message consistency and discipline. Most significantly, Labour has not made its position on Brexit clear and coherent, in an attempt not to offend both Leave and Remain voters. This has alienated both. The Conservatives are the party that wants to get on with Brexit, the Liberal Democrats would like to stop it if possible. Labour is stuck in policy no-man’s land.
Labour also faces the problem of left-wing nationalism, which is far more prominent in the UK than in most of Europe because of its multi-national nature. The country is economically, politically, demographically and socially dominated by England, which often breeds resentment amongst the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish. In the local elections, Plaid Cymru (the Welsh Nationalists) and the SNP ( Scottish National Party) gained seats. Both parties have social democratic economic outlooks, but juxtapose themselves with Labour through their opposition to unionism. Given that separatist nationalism is an almost exclusively left wing phenomenon in the UK, the nationalist parties end up splitting the left wing vote, enabling the unabashedly unionist Conservative Party to govern with a larger plurality of the vote. Finally, there’s the Green Party, which gained only 21 council seats, but can often mean the difference between a Labour and a Conservative MP in the swing seats.
Its important to note that an increasingly belligerent tone isn’t the only reason for the Conservatives’ popularity. Theresa May has a popular personal brand- she is seen as a no-nonsense politician who simply wants to get on with Brexit, and needs the support of the people in order to secure a good deal. This is an absurd view- Parliament has already given May a mandate to negotiate with the EU, and can do nothing to influence the nature of her negotiating stance. What the election is really about is domestic affairs. May wants to move the Conservatives to the left on economic issues, having had personal doubts about the austerity programme of Cameron and Osborne. This has helped appeal to former Labour and UKIP voters, both of whom are far less inclined to support the free market than the Conservative base. A larger majority in the Commons would help May ignore the economic liberals in her party, thus diminishing the raison d’etre of the left wing parties.
Given the all-but-inevitable Conservative landslide in the General Election a month today, it is hard to recommend how Epicurean Brits ought to vote. Ideally Britain would have its own Emmanuel Macron and En Marche- an unapologetically socially liberal, pro-globalisation, pro EU and pro immigration movement, which would support a comprehensive but unburdensome welfare state and a non-interventionist foreign policy. Most importantly, this movement would have a reasonable chance of attaining power, just as Macron has done. For the most part, the Liberal Democrats are the closest Britain has to such a phenomenon. But the party is still very much divided between its social democrats and the more economically liberal ‘Orange Bookers.’ It is unclear whether the party would reduce the deficit with a view to paying off the debt, or increase the deficit to fund public services. It has no realistic chance of gaining power on its own, and has refused to work in coalition. Its leader, Tim Farron, has said some questionable things, like alluding to an ambiguous stance on the morality of homosexuality, and supporting Trump’s bombing of Syria.
I would love to endorse Labour for this election. I voted for them in 2015, because I was opposed to the EU referendum- which was clearly a way of solving an intractable division within the Conservative Party, and I thought it inappropriate to subject such a complex and multifaceted issue to a plebiscite, thus robbing the electorate of the expertise and relative sovereignty of Parliament. I also believed that the lethargic nature of the economy at the time needed a fiscal stimulus to boost growth and employment, even if it meant a larger deficit. I judged the austerity measures imposed during the earlier half of the Coalition government to be callous and regressive, even if the severity of which was later diminished.
None of these issues apply now. Instead, the Labour Party looks incapable of governing the country. Its unbridgeable divisions would prevent much from getting done. It isn’t clear what its approach to Brexit is; but for me, anything less than an unambiguous commitment to the Single Market is unacceptable. And though I remain highly sceptical of large corporations and free-market fundamentalism, Labour currently goes too far in the other direction. It would increase spending in virtually every area, while refusing to raise taxes on 95% of the population. This would mean either a vastly increased deficit, punitive taxation on the relatively wealthy, or a combination of the two. Given that unemployment is lower than it was at the last election, the effects of a fiscal stimulus would be inflationary- driving up the cost of living for those Labour purports to represent. Raising taxes on the rich (which I support to an extent) to that degree, would increase tax avoidance, raise prices for the bottom 95% by increasing business costs, and possibly entice some to move overseas.
Overall, I cannot recommend anyone wholeheartedly. I would still vote, though I wouldn’t hold it against you if you were so put off by the current state of affairs that you decided to stay at home. As of yet, I haven’t decided what to do, though that may change, and I’ll write a post if it does. I’m so appalled by the pettiness of our politicians, the narrow scope of public debate (the exclusion of foreign policy and climate change from popular discourse is sickening), the arrogance of our media and commercial elites, the increasing bigotry and casual xenophobia, the disregard for facts and intellectuals, and the sidelining of the youth. The British polity is consumed by nostalgia, unrealistic expectations, ignorance and parochialism. The Right is as unhinged as ever; The Telegraph- the newspaper of choice for ‘respectable’ conservatives- has recently featured op-eds in support of Trump, Marine Le Pen, and climate change denial. The Left is divided and incoherent. Were Epicurus a present-day Brit, he would have been just as averse to political participation as he was in Ancient Greece.
